Generations
There are four generations in Halcyon City, the equivalents of the comic ages. Gold Generation The Gold Generation is the first generation of superheroes. They were born from the '20s to the '40s, and are 71-100 years old today. There were definitely superhumans and supernatural events going on for eons before Halcyon City ever arose, but the Gold Generation was the first with publicly recorded superhumans acting in their own personas. Flying Freedom started it all, but she was far from the last of her generation. Champion, the Haunt, Golden Girl, Bryce Brilliant, the Cast-Iron Man...the heroes of this era. This generation pulled America out of the Depression. This generation sent supers into World War II. This generation created for itself the notion of the modern superhero. Sometimes they fought aliens or robots, but the villainous opponents of the Golden Generation were often just powerful criminals, unscrupulous corporate fatcats, or corrupt politicians. These heroes had a direct and real effect on the city’s mundane existence. Periodically there’d be a monster like the Gorgomoth, a gigantic minotaur creature that stomped down Halcyon’s streets, or an evil genius gone mad like Captain Coldheart. These threats posed real danger to the city, but they were rare. There were countless non-violent costumed criminals, stealing priceless artifacts and jewels or playing pranks on public officials. The city as a whole wasn’t under as much threat, let alone the rest of the world. The Golden Generation still had real battles to fight, real struggles. Women and minority heroes were often laughed at, degraded, insulted, and ignored—they had to fight for every single ounce of respect they could get. The entire city was filled with the prejudice and bigoted ideas of that era. While the conflict between Champion and the pugilistic Deadly Devil might have been simpler than those faced by later generations, Champion’s struggle as a homosexual man and public figure in the 1940s was far from simple. Most of the Golden Generation heroes are either gone or retired. Those who are still active are either trying to reclaim their lost glory or success—the Scarlet Songbird wants nothing more than to be a relevant supercriminal again—or they’re the most powerful, most impressive, and most enduring members of this whole generation. Silver Generation The Silver Generation is the second generation of superheroes. They were born from the '50s to the '60s, and are 51-70 years old today. There was a sea change in the superheroic scene of Halcyon City during the ‘50’s. For reasons unknown, superpowers became more powerful, and withtheir increased powers came ever greater threats. Many suprologists consider the first hero of the Silver Generation to be theSilver Savior—a hero covered in silvery metal, capable of flight faster than everseen before, nigh-invulnerable, as strong as Champion if not stronger, wielderof the Silver Spark and all its powers. He was the first widely acknowledgedrepresentative of a new kind of superhuman. Silver Savior was bright, shining,and powerful. Silver Savior didn’t contend with costumed thieves. Instead, he foughtDoctor Infinity, the all-powerful time-altering android. He clashed against theJabberwock, a monster risen from fiction itself to convert all of our realityinto words on a page. The battles he fought, while still mostly centered aroundHalcyon City, were often struggles over the fate of the entire world. These powerful, impressive, explosive abilities and these incredible fightsagainst enormous foes characterized this generation. The battles at their worstleveled whole city blocks, or changed the color of the sky for days, or left a scentof ozone and smoke pervading the entire city—but Halcyon became moreadept than ever at repairing the damage and restoring itself to “normalcy”with incredible speed. Such incredible threats meant these new heroes sought aid from each other.The Exemplars, the Silver Saviors, the Amazing Eight—all saw their origins inthis generation. And as the heroes banded together into new super teams, sotoo did the villains form their own alliances against the heroes. Toward the beginning of their rise to prominence, the Silver Generationmade great strides on mundane struggles. There was a major public push bythe Silver Generation for equal rights among all the people of Halcyon andindeed America. Some even took on overtly political roles. But over the course of their time in power, the Silver Generation largelyabandoned struggles against social issues, and even against criminals orcorrupt politicians. There were always exceptions, but by and large as theirpower grew, their focus shifted ever upward, to greater and greater threats,planet enders and dimension destroyers and the like. The Silver Generation is still largely around and in power today. They’rereaching the end of their time, however, and many are looking into retirementof some kind. Many of the Silver Generation would love nothing more thanto find successors they can shape directly into new versions of themselves, toensure that things continue exactly as they have so far. Bronze Generation The Bronze Generation is the third generation of superheroes. They were born from the '70s to the '80s, and are 31-50 years old today. Most suprologists, historians, and sociologists agree on a single moment asthe transition point from the Silver Generation to something new, somethingmore complicated and ambiguous: the Bronze Generation. Quintessence, a younger hero acting within the style of the SilverGeneration, was under threat by his greatest foe, a telepath known as Psilence.Psilence targeted Quintessence in his real life as Niall Collins, publiclyabducting and threatening Niall’s best friend, a young man named SamReed. During their ensuing battle, Psilence knocked Sam from the top of theColossus Building in downtown Halcyon. Quintessence rocketed down theside of the building after his friend in a last ditch effort to save Sam. The medical examiners couldn’t say with confidence what caused Sam’sdeath. It’s possible he was dead before Psilence cast him off the building orperhaps he struck the building on his way down, but it’s equally possible thathe died from the force of Quintessence catching him in mid-air. Either way,Sam Reed died for being friends with Niall Collins. The ripples touched the new generation of heroes growing up in HalcyonCity. But the death of Sam Reed started a wave of introspection among theyounger generation, forcing them to take a harder look at the failures oftheir parents and mentors. They saw that the Silver Generation often seemedmore focused on grand gestures than real change. What’s more, the SilverGeneration still clung to power, held their positions of dominance over the cityand the world, and this new generation had little to no room to call their own. Young heroes changed their identities and their ideas. New heroes rose up,touting new ideas and methods. The sword-wielding and murderous vigilanteGuillotine. The patriotic and politically active Blue Eagle. The adventuresomedimension-hopping Dr. Sharon Supreme. The super-powered government spy Agent Caldwell Wing, aka Soar. The Bronze Generation was the first generation to truly doubt the entireidea of superheroism as it had existed so far. They opened doors to exploringdifferent ways of being heroes, even if many of those doors led to dark places.They took on social issues their parents and mentors had left alone. Andthey carved out their own place as a darker, more exploratory, more cynicalgeneration than the ones that had come before. The Bronze Generation is very much present and active today. Thoughmembers of the Silver Generation still sit in positions of power, the BronzeGeneration have found their own places and their own sources of power.They’re ready to seize the reins as more of the Silver Generation moves intoobsolescence and retirement. Modern Generation The Modern Generation is the fourth and current generation of superheroes. They were born from the '90s to today, and are 0-30 years old today. The newest generation of superheroes, most of them still quite young, comes from a unique place. They live in a world well-used to the idea of superhuman individuals. Dinosaurs stomping down Main Street is just a thing that happens sometimes; invading aliens and escaped products of mad science are treated as somewhere between average problems of the city and tourist attractions. As the latest superheroes to arrive on the scene, they have a stronger, more innate grasp of superhuman issues than any other generation—though that’s not always a good thing. They don’t have a name yet, really—the name “Modern Generation” is a tentative placeholder, used right alongside “The New Generation,” “The Young Generation,” and other names. They haven’t yet made their mark on the world,nor have they developed as strong an identity as those who have come before. Halcyon City doesn’t know what it will become as they grow up and rise togreater and greater power. Some members of the Modern Generation have made splashes, especially in the realm of celebrity and the internet, like teen pop-star turned villain Cygnus. Some have apprenticed themselves to older heroes, earning their names in the city at large as scions of the powers that be, like the Silver Ace, wielder of a portion of the Silver Spark. Most are aware of fame and popularity,of the voices of everyone around them, more than those of other generations. And they all feel the eyes of the older generations on them. So far, they’ve proved themselves a generation of greater hope and greaterskepticism, somehow, than any other generation. They’re aware of both thetriumphs and the failings of those who came before them, in a way no other generation has been. They see the Gold Generation’s nobility, and all-too-easy oversight; the Silver Generation’s power and success, and domineering attitudes; the Bronze Generation’s frustration and search for new alternatives, and ultimate failure to change anything significantly. All of that history weighs on them, as they try to determine who they want to be, and what they can do. Maybe they want to change the world; maybe they give up the fight and go for fame instead. Maybe they think the whole system needs fixing; maybe they try to work within the rules. In all cases, they’re still finding their way, deciding exactly what they’re going to be, and what world they’re going to make. The world awaits with trepidation and excitement to see what they willfinally become.